Various mobile devices, including but not limited to smart phones, netbooks, other notebook computers, personal media players, and the like, may be configured to allow a user to install and run various applications such as games, utilities, etc., as well as to download and play media content. These and other types of digital content may be provided by a mobile service provider, mobile device manufacturer, mobile device software manufacturer, and/or third party, via a digital content server from which users can download content, sometimes for a fee.
In some environments, users may obtain digital content for a particular device from a single source, such as a digital content server managed by a mobile device manufacturer, via a single channel, such as a desktop client running on a computer to which the mobile device is connected (e.g. via a tether, wireless connection, etc.). In such use environments, billing for digital content may be performed by credit card and/or debit card information provided to the digital content server. Such billing channels generally allow a digital content provider to assign any desired price to a digital content item.
On the other hand, some types of digital content (e.g. ringtones) may be purchased directly from a mobile operator such that the content is billed to a purchaser's mobile operator account, rather than to a credit or debit card. In many cases, mobile operator billing may not allow any desired price to be set for a digital content item, but instead may allow a relatively small set of permissible prices to be set.